


Collapsing Walls

by Lolo (TheLittleLo)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Book of Nile, Booker does not have a good time, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I would say SLIGHTLY more gore than cannon typical, Nile and Booker get trapped in a collapsed building after an earthquake, Nile and Booker talk about when they fell in love, POV Nile Freeman, Temporary Character Death, Trapped, Whump, being in pain, but a little of nile, but like literally, theres a lot of both mostly Booker, unbetaed cause it's late and I can't be bothered, with a nice ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26156188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLittleLo/pseuds/Lolo
Summary: “Keep talking, it helps to have something to focus on.” Booker said, he opened his eyes and looked up at her.“What would you like me to talk about?” Her mind drew a blank, all she cared about was getting Booker through this, and getting both of them out as soon as possible.“Something that isn’t here and now. Something nice.”“I love you.” Nile whispered. Her heart hurt, and so she hurt.Booker hummed, deep in his chest, “Yes, that. Talk about that.”“About my love?” Nile asked.“Indulge me.”(Bit of Nile/Booker whump.... everything turns out alright though)
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman
Comments: 56
Kudos: 456
Collections: Book of Nile Collection!





	Collapsing Walls

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is scimitar-and-longsword, if ya feel like following me there/want to send me a prompt <3

Nile couldn’t breathe. Well, she could breathe, but every time she tried to take a deep breath something stopped her from getting a big enough gulp of air to not feel like she was on the edge of drowning.

Nile opened her eyes to see smoke and dust swirling in the dull red light that fell on everything in her vision. She could see bits of crumbled concrete and rebar, but not much else. 

She was laying on her back, almost reclining. Were it not for the searing pain in her arm and her inability to breathe normally she might have been comfortable. She was surrounded on almost every side by destroyed concrete. 

Nile could tell there was an open space above her, but trying to crane her head up to assess her escape options caused the pain in her arm to worsen.  
Nile took -or rather tried to take- another breath, she got a little air, but she could tell she would pass out soon if she didn’t do something.

Looking down at her body it was immediately obvious what was wrong. Her arm was impaled on a piece of rebar that had ripped through her bicep, and a large piece of concrete was pressing into her chest, suspended down onto her from above. Nile was pretty sure she would have been able to free herself if her arm hadn't been trapped the way it was.

Another shallow breath and her vision started to cloud. She could taste dust and blood in her mouth but didn’t have the strength or lung capacity to try and clear it with a cough.

Nile tensed her body, knowing this would hurt, but the promise of quick healing spurred her forward. She shoved her arm as far up toward the end of the rebar as she could, and was within an inch of freeing her arm when the concrete pinning her down prevented her from moving further. 

She flinched at the pain, and knew the only way out was to rip. Using all her strength, and bracing against the concrete at her chest. She yanked her arm sideways and felt the muscle tear. The pain was immeasurable, but she did not have the air to cry out. The new angle that the rebar was sticking into her arm however did allow her to yank her arm free. Then she set her mind to freeing the rest of her.

Nile was close to passing out. Her lungs were burning, and tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

Luckily her earlier assessment had been correct. Nile ended up having to exhale all the remaining air from her lungs, but once she did, she was able to shimmy out from where she was being pinned. She hardly had any room to move but the relief was immediate. She coughed and gasped as her lungs filled with air.

“Nile?”

It took a moment for Nile’s mind to remember everything that happened before she woke up pinned down and alone.

They -Quyhn, Joe, Nicky, Booker, and her- had all run into the building without hesitation. It wasn’t often that they happened upon a disaster, but when the earthquake stopped and it became clear that people needed help, they all went into work mode in an instant.

The building, a block of apartments, looked ready to fall at any moment from the outside. The inside looked even worse.

Quynh had run down a ground floor hallway on her own. Nicky and Joe had broken away from Nile and Booker on the second floor when they heard someone crying for help. She and Booker only made it up one more floor before it became clear that the building was not long for this world. They had called out to see if anyone needed help, but when no answer came, they turned to run back down the stairs to help whoever Joe and Nicky had found.

Nile heard the building collapsing before she felt it. Booker’s eyes locked with hers for a moment and then everything went black, and the world was drowned out with the loud rumble of crumbling concrete. 

The next thing Nile knew she had woken up pinned, impaled, and unable to breathe.

“ _Merde_ , Nile!”

Booker’s voice was strained and quiet, but close by. It was obvious that he was trying not to panic.

Nile coughed, trying to clear her lungs of dust.

“Jesus, Nile please answer me.”

Booker was trying -but unable- to shout. Nile could hear the effort in his voice.

“I’m here.” Nile said.

She couldn't choke out anything else, before another coughing attack rocked her body.

A minute passed where all Nile could do was breathe and cough. Eventually though, she was able to relax her head back onto the jagged rubble beneath her. 

“ _Mon amour?_ ”

Booker’s voice was quieter that time. As Nile’s mind slowly cleared the fog of nearly suffocating away, she was finally able to focus on the rough drawl of his voice, and it terrified her.

“Sebastien,” Nile called out.

There was no answer.

“I’m alright. Are you?” Nile tried again. Her voice was still thick and gravely from coughing so hard, but she could feel her throat healing.

Again there was no answer.

Intellectually, Nile knew Booker would be fine. Whether passed out or dead, Booker would return to her. But the thought of him in pain made her stomach turn. And the thought of him going through that pain alone, while worrying about her when he didn’t have to, was unacceptable. Nile knew Booker would come back, and she was going to be by his side when he did. 

Nile looked up, the debris above her head had formed a sort of tunnel. She would have to crawl out awkwardly on her back, as there was not enough room to turn onto her front without causing more injuries than she cared to endure, but she was fairly certain she could fit through the space and hopefully find Booker.

It took longer than she would have liked, mostly because Nile had to stop every few feet to let cuts on her back, face and arms heal. It was painful and if she’d been alone she might have rested longer between each push forward. She knew Booker needed her though, so she kept moving despite the pain. Eventually she was able to pull herself out of the debris with a harsh shout, and roll onto the ground of what was once a halfway. 

The space outside of her would-be-coffin was not much better than the chaos she had just escaped. But it was larger however, and she could see more, and both of those things were a mercy. The emergency light on the wall illuminated the small space she stood in with a slowly pulsating red glow.

They were still in vaguely the same spot they had been before the building collapsed, and the space where Booker had been standing when she last saw him at the top of the stairwell was full of debris.

Fear gripped Nile’s chest for a moment, thinking that Booker could be in the middle of that. But no, she had heard him, he had been able to talk to her not long ago. She turned around herself as the emergency light dimmed and brightened once more.

Booker was lying pinned under some of the same rubble that had been surrounding Nile. In fact he had only been about five feet away from where she’d woken up. Nile was struck with the realization that he had tried to get to her as the building fell around them. 

The lower half of Booker’s body was completely out of sight, she couldn’t see anything below the middle of his stomach. Nile hoped he wasn’t completely crushed, but couldn’t think about that for too long as Booker coughed up blood and sputtered back to life.

Nile was at his side in an instant, kneeling down next to his head, and placing a hand on his chest. She could feel his heart pounding away, like a rabbit in a trap.

“ _You’re okay, I’m here_ ,” Nile said in French. 

Booker’s eyes flew open, they looked as wild as they always did in the first few moments of coming back to life, disorienting as it was. He groaned and Nile felt helpless, but after a moment his eyes found hers and his body relaxed slightly.

“Nile? You’re alright.” Booker’s eyes fluttered closed and he gritted his teeth against some unseen pain. His hand reached for Nile and she took it gladly.

“Of course I am,” Nile kissed Booker’s hand, and began forming a plan to get him free. 

He groaned, so she kept talking, if only to keep him distracted.

“You tried to get to me,” Nile stated.

“Of course I did,” Booker said, mimicking Nile.

There was a single slab of concrete that looked like it had once been the ceiling on top of Booker. Nile was pretty sure he would be able to drag himself out from under it if she could lift it for even a moment.

“You idiot. The building was collapsing, what did you think you were going to do? Stop it?”

“I don’t know.” Booker winced and laughed at the same time.

Nile stood and stared at the concrete slab.

“How does it look?” Booker asked, clearly following her train of thought.

“If I can lift this off of you do you think you can get free.”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Let’s get you out of there, then,” Nile said with a smile down at her love.

Booker stared up at her and nodded but didn’t say anything. Nile saw Booker’s jaw clench as she bent her knees and prepared to lift the concrete. She strained and pushed up with all her might. She thought she felt it budge, but her muscles couldn’t take the strain and she released what little weight she had lifted. Booker cried out in pain as the slab settled.

She tried again, repositioning her feet and hands, but the same thing happened. And Booker cried out beneath her once more when the slab resettled. 

This wasn’t going to work.

“Fuck!” Nile cursed the too-large piece of ceiling and pushed away from it in frustration. “I don’t think I can move it.”

“It’s alright Nile. It doesn’t hurt too bad,” Booker said through gritted teeth. “I can wait it out. Someone will find us.”

“What does _too bad_ mean?” Nile said. She ran a hand down her face and then around the back of her neck. She had no idea what to do. She didn’t even see a way out.

“It hurts, but I’ll live,” Booker groaned again, bringing Nile’s attention back to him. She sank down to balance on the balls of her feet, placing her hand back on Booker’s chest again. His heart was still hammering away but it had slowed slightly.

“That could describe anything _mon cher_ ,” Nile said, and she stroked his chest lightly.

“That’s true,“ Booker said with another pained laugh.

Booker gave her a weak smile and closed his eyes. Nile could tell he was downplaying the pain he was in because he didn’t want her to worry. Problem was, after 75 years with the man she could read him like- well, like a book.

Booker grabbed Nile’s hand where it was on his chest, his grip was tight like he was clinging to her for dear life.

There was no use trying to get him to tell her how bad it really was, especially not then. Maybe once they were free of their concrete tomb and safe in their bed together he would admit to how much pain he’d been in. But not right then. 

Booker still had the nasty habit of bottling things up. Nile was working on him, and he was getting there, but it was a slow process.

“Do you know how long it’s been?” Nile said after a few minutes had passed. She always had trouble measuring time between death and rebirth, even after nearly 150 years of immortality.

“At least a half hour between when the building fell and I heard you cough,” Booker said, his voice was strained.

Damn. A half hour? She must have been hurt worse than she thought.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to come back to you,” Nile said. 

Nile was all too familiar with the pain of waiting for one of her family to come back to life, let alone when it was Booker.

“You came back, that’s all that matters,” Booker said. His eyes were still closed, but his lips turned up in a small smile.

“You were only gone five or so minutes,” Nile said. 

Nile sighed, it hadn’t even been an hour yet. They could be here for hours more, days even, depending on whether or not Nicky, Joe and Quynh were trapped like they were. 

Nile finally sat fully down on the ground. She couldn’t do anything, so crouching wasn’t helping anyone. She moved to sit at Booker's head, and lifted it into her lap. He hummed even as he flinched at the movement. She leaned protectively over his head and placed her hand back over his heart.

“I’m pretty sure I broke my back. I couldn’t feel my legs.” Booker said, his heartbeat was spreading up again, and his shoulders tensed slightly. “I can feel my legs now, which is more of a curse than a blessing.”

“Try not to think about it.” Nile said. She felt silly offering such a pitiful piece of advice, but there was nothing else she could do. Booker’s pain was obviously coming back to him full force now, and he squirmed in her lap and grabbed her forearm. 

“Easier said than done.” Came Booker’s response a few moments later.

“Always so sarcastic.” Nile said.

Booker chuckled, and Nile put a hand on the side of his face

“Keep talking, it helps to have something to focus on.” Booker said, he opened his eyes and looked up at her.

“What would you like me to talk about?” Her mind drew a blank, all she cared about was getting Booker through this, and getting both of them out as soon as possible. 

“Something that isn’t here and now. Something nice.”

“I love you.” Nile whispered. Her heart hurt, and so she hurt. 

Booker hummed, deep in his chest, “Yes, that. Talk about that.”

“About my love?” Nile asked.

“Indulge me.”

Nile searched her mind trying to think of how to put into words the feeling she had for the man who was currently suffering with his head in her lap. Their love had been so slow and evolving, she wasn’t even sure when it started. Or when it turned from affection to love. She did know it had taken a long time. Longer than Andy and Quynh or Nicky and Joe had taken for sure.

Thinking back to those early days was bittersweet.

“You were the first person I saw come back to life,” Nile said before she could think better of it. But Booker didn’t respond, so she kept talking. “I had died and come back twice already, but it was another thing to see it. You were also the first person to make me laugh in my new life. In that cave while- well, in the cave.”

Booker sighed, “I don’t want to hear about that man. I hate the person I was back then.”

“I don’t,” Nile said, and she meant it.

Booker scoffed.

“I don’t. You made some bad decisions, you paid the price and changed for the better.”

“You made me better.” Booker said softly.

“You made yourself better Sebastien, you put in the work. We wouldn’t be together if you hadn’t.”

Booker didn’t respond.

“Even back then I think you were looking out for me.”

“I can promise you I wasn’t, Nile.” Booker said.

“I know it wasn’t love, not then. But it was something. I knew it too, you know? I didn’t want you to leave. Everything in me was screaming at me to keep them from sending you away.”

“This isn’t what I had in mind, Nile,” Booker said, he sounded more annoyed than anything.

Nile let out a small laugh.

“Alright then, when you came back after Quynh. Not even a year later, you were already so different.”

“I was a mess.”

“You were.” Nile said truthfully. “But you were already changing into a different person, a better person. I watched that guilt eat you alive for fifty years. I hated it. Not cause I loved you yet, but I did already care for you. I wanted to see you happy. I wanted to see you forgive yourself. Everyone else already had.”

Booker sighed. But his heart rate was even under her palm. He might not agree with or particularly like what he was hearing, but he was focused on her words and not the pain.

“That is the man I fell in love with. The man who faced his guilt and his mistakes head on, who learned and grew from them. The man who didn’t shy away from making things right.”

“Fifty years after I came back? That’s much earlier than when we first got together.”

“I fought it for a long time. I didn’t want to be with you until I was sure you were a good man.” Nile trailed off and stroked her hand over Booker’s scruffy beard.

“You need a shave.” Nile said absentmindedly. 

“I knew I loved you on the Jakarta mission.” Booker said, his voice was rough and quiet.

“Jakarta? In 2031? That is _very_ early.” Nile said with a teasing judgement in her voice. She wasn’t surprised, but he had never admitted to her before how early he started to think of her in that way.

“ _Oui, bon-_ I wasn’t a good man yet.” Booker said. He laughed, and winced. “Ow fuck. Don’t make me laugh.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Nile said. A small smile crept across her face.

Booker looked up at Nile. His heartbeat began to rise under her hand, and his shoulders tensed against her knees.

“ _You are so beautiful_ ,” Booker said, switching to French.

“ _French now? Is it getting bad?_ ” Nile said, switching to French as well.

Booker shut his eyes tight and nodded once. A gasp escaped his mouth.

“Nile,” Booker choked out and grabbed at her arms as she held tight to him. His breathing became erratic and he cried out in pain.

“ _It_ _’s alright, this will pass, I promise. I love you._ ” Nile said.

Words of love and promises of what they would do once they got out of there tumbled from her mouth in a mix of French, English and Italian.

Nile wasn’t sure what changed, maybe the building shifted, but Booker couldn’t talk after that. Not actual conversations at least, just one or two words at a time. Mostly he just groaned and said Nile’s name like a prayer. 

The hours passed slowly, a cycle of comforting Booker until he passed out, and keeping vigil over his tense unconscious body until he awoke in pain again.

Eventually though, he seemed to drift off into a sleep that would last some time.

Nile propped her head on her hand, elbow balanced on her knee, and stroked Booker’s hair as he breathed deeply, small snores came as his body slowly relaxed. Nile could finally relax a bit too. Eventually, uncomfortable as it was, Nile found sleep as well.

\---

“Nile!”

“Booker!”

Nile jolted awake to the sounds of Quynh and Joe, respectively, shouting their names. Sunlight was streaming in from somewhere.

Booker gasped awake too, and groaned pathetically.

“Nile!” 

That time was Nicky.

Nile blinked, the light was so bright it almost blinded her. Not sunlight, she realized, a flood light, and it was coming from the stairwell.

“Nicky?” Nile asked. She could hear the sounds of rubble being moved, and Quynh and Joe grunting from the effort. 

“Nile! Thank the Lord, is Booker with you?” Nicky asked.

“ _I am here,_ ” Booker croaked out in French, he sounded better, still in pain, but better.

“He’s pinned down, I couldn’t-” Nile’s voice cracked unexpectedly. “I couldn’t get him out.”

Nile felt relief and guilt wash over her as tears started to well up in her eyes.

“You kept me sane. Don’t beat yourself up,” Booker whispered. He reached up and brushed a tear off her cheek. He shuddered, and Nile reached out to feel his heart beat hammering in his chest. “I wouldn’t say no to getting out of here though.”

“Alright.” Nile said, she turned her head and kissed his hand, “I’m going to go help them clear a path, just shout if you need anything.” 

She could finally do something, and she felt adrenaline begin to surge through her.

Gently as she could, Nile moved Booker’s head out of her lap, and she kissed his forehead. 

“I’ll be here.” Booker said. Nile smiled, if he was able to make dry remarks, he must have been feeling at least a little better.

Nile made it to the stairwell and came face to face with Nicky staring at her through a hole that was about one foot in diameter.

“I think I can fit though if we widen this even a little bit.” Quynh said from behind Nicky.

Nile nodded and started shifting rocks from her side. It didn’t take long before Quynh was crawling through. They went to Booker without a word.

Booker’s eyes were shut tightly. It was clear he was in a lot of pain, but she suspected the promise of escape was keeping him from crying out for Nile.

“Almost my love.” Nile said. Booker nodded.

“I was able to budge it a little. I think the two of us might be able to lift it enough for him to pull himself out,” Nile said to Quynh.

“Hurry.” Booker pleaded.

Quynh and Nile braced against the slab on either side of Booker.

“One- Two- Three!”

Quynh was silent as she lifted. But Nile let out a grunt that turned into a scream as she struggled. The slab moved. She could hear Booker below her cry out, he moved and out of the corner of her eye she finally saw his feet clear the edge of the cement.

With a cry Nile let the slab fall and she collapsed forward onto her knees. She allowed herself a few seconds, maybe ten, to gasp and cry, before crawling the short distance to where Booker had dragged himself.

“Sebastien,” Nile breathed out as she took in the sight in front of her.

Booker’s legs and pelvis were absolutely covered in blood, and there was a trail of red smeared across the ground.

“Were you bleeding the entire time?” Nile forced out while stifling sobs.

“I think so.” Booker said. He already sounded better, tired, but no longer in intense pain. 

He lifted up his shirt to reveal a slowly closing gash, it looked like it had been deep.

“I don’t think I was able to fully heal where it was crushing me.” Booker said.

Nile hesitated to reach out and touch Booker as he tested his legs, bending them slightly, and finally sitting up fully.

Booker finally looked at her, and reached out to pull her into a hug.

“Thank you.” Booker whispered into Nile’s ear, “I’m alright. I love you.”

“Let’s get out of here.” Nile said and she took a deep breath to steady her voice. “You need a shower.”

“ _Alright, my darling.”_ Booker said in French.

\---

Nile and Booker didn’t often shower together when they were staying with the others. They weren’t Nicky and Joe, who still acted like teenagers after over 1070 years together. Booker was more subtle in his public displays of affection. According to him, showering together when other people knew was too public, Nile didn’t feel the need to push him. 

That night however Booker had stripped out of his clothing as soon as he entered the bathroom, before he even turned on the water. He left the door open which was usually an invitation.

Nile tentatively knocked on the open door. Booker was staring into the mirror with a vacant expression.

“ _Mon amour._ ” Booker said, he turned and reached out for her, giving her a world weary smile.

“How are you feeling?” Nile asked as she tucked herself into his arms, still fully clothed against his naked body.

“Tired.” Booker said.

“I can let you shower.” Nile moved to pull away, she didn’t need anything from Booker, he’d been through a lot.

“Can I hold you?.” Booker asked, he huffed out a soft laugh, “I don’t think I have the energy for anything else.”

“Let’s get you clean.” Nile said and steered Booker toward the already steaming shower, kicking off her shoes as they moved.

“You too.” Booker said, and stepped into the shower.

Nile slowly peeled back her clothing, everything was ruined. She tossed her clothes on top of Booker’s equally ruined clothing. The left side of her was covered in dried blood from her injured arm. She was covered in a thin layer of grey dust from head to toe.

Nile stepped into the shower to find Booker had already rinsed off most of the blood and dust, either she had taken longer than she thought to get undressed -which was entirely possible given how exhausted she was- or Booker had hurried through cleaning himself on purpose. 

Booker turned to her almost immediately and pulled her flush with his body.

“I love you.” He said into the top of her head, before pressing a kiss into her braids. “Do you want me to take these out? I’ll rebraid your hair if you’d like.”

“No, thank you,” Nile said, she felt like she could fall asleep against Booker’s chest standing there in the shower. “I just want to get clean and sleep, I’ll deal with my hair tomorrow.”

She closed her eyes and wrapped her hands around his back. She just stood there leaning against him as he grabbed whatever shower gel they had at this safe house and a washcloth.

He was methodical but gentle as he washed her. First her back and shoulders, then turning her around to wash her front as she tilted her head back against him sleepily.

“Why am I not doing this for you?” Nile asked as he scrubbed a little harder at the dried blood on her arm, “I only died once today.”

“So did I.” Booker said, he lifted her arm up to rest her hand on his shoulder, and ran the washcloth down her side and up the exposed underside of her arm.

Nile scoffed, and Booker moved her so her back was against the wall of the shower, and he knelt down in front of her. He continued his thorough work starting at an ankle and moving slowly upwards.

“You carried us through that Nile. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t there.” Nile placed a hand on Booker’s head, just to touch him, to feel connected. He hummed in appreciation, and moved to her other leg.

“Nile, _ma chère_ , all I needed was you, all I wanted was you. My mind latched onto you every time I woke up, and you were there. Soothing me, telling me you loved me. I wanted to do the same for you but I couldn’t. The pain was-” Booker paused for a moment and stood up, having finished his work. He looked at the ceiling of the shower, and sighed. “The pain was almost unbearable, but you were there every step of the way.”

Booker pulled her back into another hug.

“I’m sorry I left you alone so many times.” Booker said. He tucked her head under his chin.

“I didn’t mind. It meant you weren't in pain anymore.” Nile sighed. After a moment she added, “I think we’re clean enough for tonight. I just want to sleep.”

Booker made a noise of agreement and switched off the water.

They toweled off and made their way to the bedroom. Nile climbed in first, Booker close behind.

They settled into their normal sleeping position, Booker on his back, one arm around Nile whose head was tucked onto Booker’s shoulder. Nile had a leg and arm slung over the top of Booker and he brought his other hand up to draw abstract patterns on Nile’s upper arm and shoulder blade.

“Sleep,” Booker whispered. “You watched over me, I got enough sleep today. It’s your turn.”

“You can rest Booker, we’re safe here.” Nile said even as she felt her eyes close on their own.

“I will if I feel the need.”

“I love you, Sebastien.” Nile said.

“A gift I will never do enough atoning to deserve, and I love you too.”

Nile drifted off to sleep, safe in the arms of her love.


End file.
